One retirement was planned – but the other initially came as a surprise –
at this past weekend’s ASTRA event, a one-off show promoted by Japanese
entertainment group J-Rock.

As expected headliner and Japanese MMA legend Hidehiko Yoshida announced
his retirement following a decision loss to Kazuhiro Nakamura.
Additionally, 2000 Olympic judo gold medalist Makoto Takimoto pulled out
of the event last month and joins the Japanese veteran in retirement.

The event took place April 25 in front of approximately 11,000 spectators at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

The show, which featured many of Yoshida’s Yoshida Dojo teammates and numerous notables, was stocked with DREAM and World Victory Road veterans.

The headliner, of course, provided one of the night’s most intriguing storylines. In addition to his planned retirement, Yoshida actually faced one of his students. Nakamura (14-10), a PRIDE and UFC veteran, got the edge in the most stand-up affair with Yoshida (9-8-1) and earned the unanimous-decision win.

Post-fight retirement ceremonies for the 40-year-old Yoshida, who made his pro MMA debut a full decade after he won a gold medal in judo at the 1992 Olympic Games, included the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa and Kazushi Sakuraba.

Takimoto, meanwhile, concludes his career with a 6-5 mark after competing for PRIDE and World Victory Road. The 35-year-old posted dropped to welterweight and posted back-to-back wins over Michael Costa and Jae Sun Lee in his two most recent bouts.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?